Monday night, I spoke to the Women’s Guild at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and thank goodness I did because inspiration has been in short supply lately.

See, the friend who contacted me (way back in the summer) mentioned again how much she loved my blog and how she laughed at my social media shenanigans (at least, I think she said that. I may just be adding that part to make the story better). The point is, she wanted to liven up her meetings and she thought of little old, lively me. And then Eureka (and just in the nick of time, I might add)! An idea popped into my hitherto empty head!

Most of my blog posts are promoting whatever I’ve got out there in the world and I totally forget sometimes that my blog posts are actually promoting…well…me.

Which is crazy, I know, because right up there at the top of the page is Cathy C. Hall in really big letters. Anyway, inspiration struck as I realized that as a writer, I’m always selling me. So I’m always working, no matter what I’m doing. Of course, I went into a lot more writerly detail over at the Muffin today in “It May Not Look Like Work…” But bottom line, I’m very grateful to my friend and the Women’s Guild for the idea.

And did you see that delightfully cute fish they gave me? It’s on my bookcase where all my books are shelved–and it’s pointing in my direction. Because I need to remember that point about me and working.

But also because I’m grateful for the warm welcome from the Women’s Guild, not to mention their generosity. They’re involved in all kinds of service over there at St. Patrick’s so I know how giving these women are. But honestly, even if they hadn’t bought a ton of my Chicken Soup for the Soul books, I would still have been overwhelmed by their kind words and generous spirit, plus their laughter (in all the right places).

See, a writer may be working all the time, but it takes a joyful reader to make her glad that she does.